A tough slog for Aaron's Law

There’s been plenty of Washington soul-searching following the death of Aaron Swartz, the 26-year-old Internet entrepreneur who spent nearly two years battling potential imprisonment on computer fraud charges. But a congressional campaign to rewrite the law and spare others from a similar legal struggle isn’t going to be an easy climb.

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“To be successful, that effort will likely take substantial time and require sustained and intense support from all of you,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), one of the principal backers, wrote in a post to users of Reddit, which Swartz co-founded. Lofgren said success would require “a push that will need to exceed” even what Internet activists did to halt the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Despite some recent momentum, there’s not much clamor for change coming from the White House — and as expected, the Justice Department, which once tried to expand the penalties of the so-called Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, has been silent.

While there’s a new reform push on Capitol Hill backed by a few powerful members, the key committees with jurisdiction have other plans in mind — and their agendas are packed with immigration reform and gun control. More than that, Congress actually has been fond of stronger punishments for some offenders.

It’s not to say the principles known as Aaron’s Law won’t ever reach the president’s desk in some form — just that all the Internet hype and rallying mark only the beginning of a new and lengthy political journey.

The campaign to update the 1986 statute, known by the acronym CFAA, follows Swartz’s storied and emotional battle against DOJ. Swartz faced charges for allegedly stealing academic journal articles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — a violation of federal law and punishable with steep fines and years in prison. Swartz committed suicide almost two years after federal prosecutors commenced their case.

In the weeks to follow, a collection of Internet luminaries and top lawmakers have faulted DOJ for proceeding too aggressively — and critics have turned their sights onto the statute itself, hoping to rewire the rules. The new draft bill would eliminate the avenues by which the feds could pursue those who violate terms of service agreements or change their computer’s unique identifiers.

The neophyte campaign has been fueled by constant letters and tweets. And top lawmakers and industry supporters tried to maintain that momentum with a memorial service Monday night on Capitol Hill that doubled as a call for reform.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of its backers, received loud cheers for promising to “change this unjust law” in the memory of Swartz’s “commitment” to a “more just world.”

But the path forward is uncertain.

For all the talk about Swartz’s legacy and the country’s outmoded regulations, there’s limited political bandwidth for a quick CFAA overhaul.

There are key lawmakers behind the new push — Wyden, Lofgren and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) — but many other influential Washington policymakers haven’t made a peep.

That includes the White House and its DOJ, both of which did not comment to POLITICO this week on the proposal.

Previously, backers of Aaron’s Law tried to compel the Obama administration to respond through its “We the People” online petition, but the White House hasn’t yet offered its views through that forum.